Moonshine In Mangum

Moonshine in Mangum



Jason Ray Jackson (JR), the sheriff of Mangum Oklahoma, stood on the plank board sidewalk as little Tommy brought in a wagon load of corn from his grandpa Robert Weldon’s farm. JR was watching the wagon go by but he was thinking of Robert Weldon, Tommy’s grandpa. It was a well known fact in Mangum that most of the moonshine that found its way into town came from Robert Weldon.

JR knew that too. And he knew David Robert (Rob) Weldon, as well. Rob and JR had gone to school together some five decades earlier. You don’t live in a rural community like Mangum for a lifetime and not know the business of everyone within fifteen miles.

JR and Rob had been friends for a long time, but JR did not let their friendship interfere with his duties as an officer of the law. He knew that Rob was bootlegging whiskey, but he hadn’t figured out how he was doing it. When he found out he would arrest his old friend. All of this was going through his mind as he watched Tommy drive the team and wagon to the General Store where George McKay, who owned the store, bought the corn to grind into meal and sell to the locals as food for both human and livestock.


Tommy was small for his 10 years, but his life had been rough and he had learned more in those few years than many learn in a lifetime. Grandpa Rob was raising him because his dad, Thomas Watson Smith Senior had given up on life and one day took a shotgun with him into the brush where he was found three days later. Tommie’s mother had left him with her dad, Rob Weldon, a short time later to run off with Rufus Jones. Can you imagine that? A Smith running off with a Jones.
Going to school was not a priority for many boys Tommie’s age in those days and after three years of rather sporadic attendance he finally just didn’t go back and spent his time working with grandpa Rob on his farm and the family business of selling processed corn.

Rob had schooled Tommy well in the economy of dirt farming in Southwestern Oklahoma. He had often told Tommie that there were two ways to make a living off a dirt farm. One was to borrow all you could on the place then leave the country with the money. The other was to raise corn and sell it either on the cob or in the bottle, and in the bottle paid the best. Rob trained Tommie in the fine of art of bottling corn into the commodity commonly known as moonshine.

Rob Weldon was not exactly a bad man, he just had a peculiar way of looking at things. He figured the job of the law was to provide safety and protection for a man doing his best to make a living for his family, as long as the living he made wasn’t robbin’ or hurtin’ nobody. And he figured gettin’ liquered up with moonshine once in a while never hurt nobody. He never quite figured out why his old friend JR got so riled up about it.

The forty acres of sand hills he farmed wasn’t the most productive, but if handled correctly, his cash crop of liquid corn kept his family fed and clothed throughout the year. Nobody should be too upset about that. Now with Tommie to feed and look after he had to be sure that he was able to sell his “crop.”

Tommie had heard his grandpa tell many stories about how he had gotten his corn crop into town and distributed among his faithful customers over the years. His favorite was the time Rob was riding his wagon to town one day when he heard the most god- awful noise coming toward him. He could hear something popping and sputtering like the devil himself was coming. Dan, the old mule started to kick and jump in the traces and will thought he was going to run away with the wagon load of corn and ruin the whole thing.

Then, around the corner came the funniest looking wagon he had ever seen. But, no, it wasn’t a wagon. It was four wheeled alright, but it didn’t have a mule pulling it, or a horse either. It was that funny looking contraption that was making the noise.
Rob Weldon was getting his first look at an automobile. And so was the old mule, Dan. Neither one of them liked what he saw. Rob pulled tight on the reigns to hold old Dan steady then tied the reigns to the brake arm as he grabbed his whip and jumped off the wagon into the middle of the road. As the driver of the automobile drew near grandpa cracked his whip and commanded the man to stop.

The man looked at Rob and asked what was the problem. Well, Rob explained the problem in graphic detail. In just a minute he had that man driving the automobile around and around the wagon and old Dan until the old mule got used to seeing him and the machine. Every time the man acted like he was going to quit driving in circles and go on grandpa would crack the whip about six inches from his head and the driver would loose his inclination to quit the circle.

That day Rob still made his delivery, old Dan got used to the idea of sharing the road with an automobile, and the driver of Mangum’s first automobile gained respect for Rob Weldon.

The wagon drew to a stop in front of McKay’s General Store. JR watched as Tommy jumped down from the seat and walked around to the back of the wagon to release the tail board. As Tommy reached onto the wagon to pull out the first bushel basket of corn JR was thinking what a fine young boy he was. He was kind and friendly to all, not at all like Rob. It was like Tommie was cut from different mold. He must of gotten it from his father’s side because those characteristics didn’t run strong on his mother’s side of the family.

A good worker Tommy was. Every week he could be seen bringing in the wagon load of corn and unloading it himself, one bushel basket at a time. Often people would offer to help but Tomm would always thank them and let them know that he didn’t want to bother them and he could take care of it himself. He was really a fine boy.

George McKay would always personally take the basket from Tommy and put it in his back room where he would later carry it to the small shed he had out back where he had a corn grinder to grind the corn to meal. When Tommy finished unloading the wagon George would pay him in cash. He always had to go into another room to get the money because it seemed that he never had that much in the register. If anyone saw George hand the money to Tommy they might think it was an awful big wad of money for one wagonload of corn, but nobody was ever watching.

There were always glass jars of penny candy on the counter at McKay’s General Store. It was almost a ritual that Tommy would stop by the counter and buy five pieces of hard candy before he left the store. When he left the store he walked across the street over to JR and offered him a piece of candy. Then he told him that grandpa Rob was looking forward to coming into town and visiting with him soon. JR patted his back and said to tell his grandpa that he would be looking forward to it. As Tommy walked away JR thought how blessed Rob Weldon was to have such a fine youngster for his grandson.

Riding out of town Tommy was mentally counting the bushel baskets he had unloaded at McKay’s. He thought about it and decided that this was a good week to be in the corn business. He was thinking about the money in his pocket and hoping that none of the bottles in the bottom of the bushel baskets had been broken in transport. If they were he would have to give some back to Mr. McKay and grandpa would take it out of his hide.

Standing on the board walkway JR stared after the wagon as Tommy drove off. JR was thinking t hat there is no way that old man would use that good boy to move his moonshine. Besides, Tommy wasn’t the kind of boy to be involved in anything illegal. He was going to have to keep a better eye on Rob if he was ever going to catch him.

There were several arrests that night for public drunkenness.